Blogging for Gold: A to Z of Blogging by Anuj Tikku (Book Review: 4*/5) !!!

The way of communicating with an audience is changing gradually since years and there have been new players in each of the mode that becomes prevalent according to the contemporary time. Earlier, people had only radios to communicate then came television. Post television became prominent, new terms of communicators started getting invented such as VJs, hosts, anchors who started influencing people with their shows. And finally, Internet entered and the whole dynamics of communicating changed. Earlier it started with digital magazines owned by an institution which got its own revolution where a person started speaking by himself through his own website which gave a new term to the mankind- Blogger. And the latest book that I have just completed reading is about how a person can enrich his blog and increment his performance as a blogger written by Mr. Anuj Tikka named “Blogging For Gold”. The book also has the tagline that says “A to Z of Blogging”.

The book is divided into 60 chapters which sounds like 60 tutorial classes being given every day on how a person should approach Internet as a blogger should and ensure that his efforts does not go into vain but he is able to earn something out of it- both monetarily and personally. I am glad that people like Anuj Tikka exists who rather than keeping their findings on how to make the craft successful with themselves spread it with their contemporaries ensuring that everyone grows together in a field that can provide lot of opportunities to both- the creators and the audiences. Anuj has written a really no-nonsense book keeping all the chapters and advices crisp with no diversions or non-clarity in thoughts. You can only bless him after reading this book as I, myself, being a blogger since last 10 years learnt a lot from this e-book which is written by someone who has explored the field for just 3 years.

The author has not only given tips on how to increase the readers, subscribers and views on the website but also given solutions on how to write better contents and how a blogger can go beyond just blogging. Not only has he spoken about the benefits one can get by just being a Blogger but taught how a person can earn through integrating their portal with other social media platforms, similar blog sites, affiliate programming e-commerce websites etc. The book opens a great dimension for a person looking out for being a Blogger letting him know the various options he has to explore and convert his hobby into a full-time stuff. Not only talking about just Blogging platform, author has also discussed about being a Youtuber, content creator, self-published author, story-teller, social media influencer, collaborator and what not.

The book is very impressive with its well research and self-experienced content. Though I would like to point out few drawbacks over here- The author has in some places just given references of what to be done but does not give a descriptive solution of how it needs to be done. Secondly, the chapters are not divided into sections which has scattered the chapters belonging to the same subject across the book which confuses the reader if he has completed knowing everything about this one topic or he might get a chapter afterwards on the same stuff. Third and the last, I believe author ended up repeating the same thing quite often to ensure that the reader remembers the same but it becomes monotonous after a point of time. It could have been wonderful if author could have given a summary of all the information in the end as Important Tips that the reader could keep it with himself to refer in future. 

Overall, this is a great book for people wanting to create some stuff online and share with people or get popular. I give this wonderful effort 4 star out of 5. A must read.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!! 

The Chapter Black: Scandalous Secret of the Scars by Bushra Rahmani (Book Review: 4*/5) !!!

 Not the experience of reading every book is delightful and entertaining, some are boring whereas some are thought-provoking whereas some keep hitting you for being negligence towards people who need your attention and concern. The book I have just finished belonged to the latter category written by Ms. Bushra Rahmani namely “The Chapter Black: Scandalous Secret of the Scars”. The book is currently available only in its Kindle edition and I wish it released in paperback version too as it is something you would want to gift few people who have no sympathy with the victims of the society who are dying to make you hear their pain. The cover page of the book is itself very dark portraying a girl sitting with her head bent down speaking about the plight she has been suffering for some while and the story is written in the same tone itself.

I had believed the book would have two different shades of happiness and then the sadness but since the first page of the book, the author has maintained a serious and sincere effort of keeping the victim’s story as much focused as possible so that readers could feel the pain a person who has suffered molestation, rape, kidnapping and acid attack goes through. And the good part is that even when the book is not written in the first person’s voice, it is able to make you feel what is in the mind of the fearful and helpless character who is scarred of every moment of her life. The protagonist’s character is so well built up that even after hours of completing the book, you would keep thinking about her sufferings and pain.

The book is written in a very good English language and as a debutante, I am very much impressed in the way the language has been used in a narration so strong and powerful. The story does not have much happenings, twists and turns but is still able to make you excited to know what happens with the character in the end is commendable. The research the authoress has gone through to understand the circumstances and feelings of an acid attack survivor is evident in every sentence which is applaudable. The way the book ends giving hope to any such survivor reading this book is how the climax of this book should have been rather than keeping everything dark till end.

Talking about the drawbacks of the book, I must say that the book is quite stretched in some parts where the authoress has gone into the same kind of detailing for the same condition of the character rather than trimming down few sentences from those segments where it kept getting repetitive. Secondly, except protagonist, her sister and Zafar, all the other characters are not given due importance. They keep disappearing from the story time and again which does not let the reader connect with the story at times. Overall, the book is a great effort and I rate it 4 out of 5. This is recommended for the people who can bear reading tough violent descriptions suffered by a female character.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA 

Vyom And The Royal Weapon by Tripty Bhardwaj (Book Review: 3.5/5*) !!!

Reading book of any debutante is a different experience altogether considering that they pour in everything that they have as an author in their first book and does not hold back any idea or potential that they have. This exposes the author in his/her first book itself which is why the first book is very important for anyone in his literary journey. The book that I have completed reading last week is written by another debutante, Tripty Bhardwaj, with the name- “VYOM AND THE ROYAL WEAPON”. As I have already read many books from the same genre, I did not have much expectation from the authoress to write anything different from those books but I must say, the story of the book is unique in its own way.

The 1st book generally have references from many classics as it’s obvious that authors have their own favorite authors whom they have kept reading until they themselves start writing but I found that Tripty’s story isn’t influenced as there are ups and downs in the storyline which tells how strong and yet vulnerable the authoress is. The command over English is great which ensures that authoress is successful in communicating her imaginative story to the readers as most of the scenes in the book are created in highly fantasy-based world. Not generalizing but mostly the contents related to science fiction is interesting for boys than girls but it is surprising to see Tripty writing such a story covering elements that make the book genuine and thrilling. The only problem that I have felt in Tripty’s writing is the way she narrates the story. It is quite boring. It could have been interesting if the book had little less seriousness in its approach of story-telling and less description of segments which did not actually required detailing.

Talking about the characterizations, this book has many characters in it and almost all of them are widely discussed which doesn’t let the reader feel that he is not aware of the character’s background or mindset. As this book is based on an organization which has some values and morals, authoress had to ensure it is reflected in the conversations between characters which is done with pitch-perfectness. The two different groups of people are nicely portrayed to make you differentiate between them just in the first few chapters itself. It could have been great if authoress could have made some table describing the characters as their group so that readers could refer it when they are reading this book with lot of breaks the way I did.

The way the whole fantasy world is described does justice with this book. The blend author has ensured in the book with sci-fi content, kind of a mythological aspect, and also being philosophical in few parts of it through the characters is wonderful. The book is divided into many chapters which makes it easy to remember the many sub-plots happening in the story one after another. I just felt that the book could have been edited well as 250 pages are too much for the limited number of instances shared in the book. As already stated above, over-description kills the soul of the chapter sometimes. Overall, as a debut authoress, Tripty has made a respectable entry. Vyom and the Royal Weapon gets 3.5 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA!!!